Press Release For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 25, 2007 FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT KILLING RECORD NUMBER OF CARNIVORES Mammal Death Toll Up 21% in
2006 with Growing Numbers of Wolves Targeted Contacts: Wendy Keefover-Ring ||
Sinapu || 303.447.8655, Ext. 1# Carol Goldberg || PEER || 202.265.7337
Washington, DC — The federal government is killing record numbers of
warm-blooded animals, particularly carnivores, according to agency statistics
compiled by Sinapu and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
(PEER). In addition, the number of federally protected wolves killed has been
steadily rising – up six-fold over the past decade – with nearly 300
wolves dispatched last year alone. Wildlife Services, a euphemistically named
arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, spent $108 million in 2006 to kill
more than 1.6 million animals deemed a “nuisance” to ranchers, farmers,
and others. That total includes a record number of mammals (207,341) up more
than 21% over the previous year, including a record number of animals
protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. “We have one arm of the
federal government trying to protect wildlife while a different arm is doing
its best to eradicate the same animals – how much sense does that make?”
asked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “Our federal government does not
have a coherent let alone coordinated wildlife policy.” The 2006 Wildlife
Service kill totals for mammals were up sharply from previous years: • A
record number of gray wolves (278), the subject of a highly publicized
reintroduction effort, were killed in numbers that are up more than six-fold
since 1996; • Another 116,610 mammalian carnivores, including 87,000
coyotes, 10,000 raccoons, 2,500 bobcats, 500 badgers, and 318 black bears
were taken by federal wildlife agents who also killed 1,184 housecats and 512
dogs; and • Approximately 50,000 animals from the rodent and rabbit
families—the largest toll came from beavers (28,000), followed by nutria
(2,500), and marmots and woodchucks (3,700). “This annual carnage is just
staggering,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring of Sinapu, noting that Wildlife
Services killed approximately six million animals in the period between 2003
and 2005. “Wildlife Services is like the wildlife equivalent of Blackwater,
shooting first and deflecting questions later.” Notwithstanding the record
mammal toll, the majority of animals exterminated by Wildlife Services were
birds, including more than a million starlings, and thousands of other avian
species: • Water birds such as 15,855 cormorants, 469 herons, 2,373 ducks,
13,603 geese, and 18,243 gulls; • Raptors, including 298 hawks, 505 owls,
and 12 osprey, as well as 4,871 vultures (important environmental actors that
clean up carcasses); and • 37,391 blackbirds – because they eat grains
and sunflower seeds. The two groups are calling for the federal government to
get out of the wildlife extermination business and to divert resources toward
management of wildlife populations that are coming into greater conflict with
sprawling human development.
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